Upright Citizens Brigade

If traditional sketch comedy is tricky enough to get right, then the spontaneous, unpredictable art of improv sketch comedy is downright perilous. And in a field that prizes its craft as a sort of spontaneous, rule-breaking tight-wire act, Upright Citizens Brigade is one of the most renowned. UCB can boast three seasons of a delightfully weird late '90s/early-'00s Comedy Central series; a list of alumni that includes comedy standouts Amy Poehler, Andy Daly, and Matt Walsh; and a now-legendary weekly Los Angeles series, ASSSSCAT, that has provided a stage for almost everybody who came up in alternative sketch comedy over the last decade. The touring incarnation of UCB is heavy on aspiring, up-and-coming stars—think of this as a farm team that can show up most other ensembles' major leaguers—which means that catching this show should give you a head start on the next advance wave of comedy daredevils that the rest of America is going to be flipping out for five years from now. 18+.
Mon., Nov. 15, 7 p.m., 2010